I’ve Spent $6,000 on LinkedIn Premium over a Decade ~ $12,000 Pre-Tax
Premium is Now in the Trash Can.
After more than 10 years, I've just dumped LinkedIn Premium into the trash can.🗑️ And frankly, I should have done it years ago.
At approximately $600 a year, I've spent more than $6,000 on LinkedIn Premium. That's around $12,000 in pre-tax earnings to pay for the privilege.💸 And what exactly have I been paying for? An algorithm that increasingly serves up slop. My LinkedIn feed is now a bizarre collection of:
🫥 Updates on which of my connections are playing LinkedIns latest puzzles. I don't play them. I don't care.
🫥 Random recruiters, bots and weird connection requests.
🫥 Endless humble bragging and self-congratulatory posts.
🫥 People announcing they've fallen off their bike and grazed their knee.
🫥 Obituary-style announcements. I understand the sentiment, but surely LinkedIn needs a memorial button.🪽
🫥 Sexist, sexualised and utterly irrelevant advertising. I've written about this before. Here's the link: https://lnkd.in/dh2Gj9tw
And somewhere, buried beneath all this noise, are the people I actually want to hear from. The experts. The thinkers. The innovators. The people with something intelligent, original and valuable to say.
I have an extraordinary network of connections built over decades. People whose experience, insights and opinions I genuinely value. But I rarely see their posts anymore. And here's the real kicker. If I'm not seeing their posts, chances are they're not seeing mine either. Thats the problem.
LinkedIn was once a valuable professional network. Now its algorithm seems more interested in feeding me games, clickbait, advertisements and manufactured engagement than connecting me with the people who matter.
And I'm PAYING for this? When I cancelled Premium, LinkedIn promptly offered me a 25% saving to stay. How generous.🙄 After more than a decade of paying full price, apparently that's what it takes to discover a discount button.
And when LinkedIn explains the value of Premium, I'm effectively being sold more buttons and features. I don't need more buttons.
I value a professional network that actually works. I want to see the insights from my connections. I want intelligent debate, original thinking, challenging opinions and professional conversations worth having. Not another notification telling me 31 connections played Zip.🧩
So that's it. Premium is gone.🗑️(My current subscription runs until July 2027, so I'll have that precious button of a few more months.)
And the money? I'd rather redirect that value into building my AI Digital Humans. At least there I can create something useful.
LinkedIn, your algorithm has become your biggest liability. And I'm no longer prepared to pay a premium for it.
I'm curious. Have you already dumped LinkedIn Premium into the trash can? Or are you getting yours ready? 🚮